IOM has launched a new awareness raising campaign on International
Child Protection Day against trafficking in children for forced
begging.

The campaign, which is funded by the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID), will target football fans
visiting Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Lviv for the upcoming EURO 2012
Football Championship which will run from June 8th to July
1st.  

The initiative, which brings together state institutions
responsible for child protection in the four cities and Ukrainian
NGOs aims to refute the belief that giving money to child beggars
will improve their lives.  Its message is that: “Your
money will not help child beggars. It will only help those who
force them to beg.”  

“Unfortunately, child begging is rarely seen as what it is
– a form of human trafficking. We believe that there is a
risk that a number of children will be trafficked to championship
sites and forced to beg, counting on the fans’ generosity. We
want people to understand that this generosity is actually what
keeps those kids on the streets,” says IOM Ukraine Chief of
Mission Manfred Profazi. 

Football fans and others are being asked to report the cases of
child begging to local social services and campaign partners, who
will provide assistance to the children. 

The Child Social Services departments in Donetsk, Kharkiv and
Lviv, the Criminal Police for Child Affairs in Kyiv and Kharkiv,
and the NGOs Donetsk Regional League of Business and Professional
Women, Road to Life (Kharki´v) and Women’s Perspectives
(Lviv) will all respond to calls reporting child begging during the
tournament. 

Children from socially disadvantaged families and those in state
custody continue to be at high risk of being trafficked and
exploited inside Ukraine for begging, commercial sex and the
production of pornography.  

From January 2000 through the end of March 2012 IOM Ukraine
helped over 8,300 victims of trafficking. Of these, 533 or almost 8
per cent were under 18. Eighteen per cent of these children were
forced to beg - 70% in Ukraine and 27% in in the Russian
Federation. Most were either sold or handed over to traffickers by
their own parents or guardians.  

IOM Ukraine’s reintegration programme provides these
children with medical, psychological, educational, legal, financial
and other assistance, based on their individual needs. It aims to
protect them from re-trafficking, protect their rights and help
them to find a secure future. 

For more information please contact

Varvara Zhluktenko

IOM Ukraine

Tel. +380 44 568 50 15

Email: "mailto:vzhluktenko@iom.int">vzhluktenko@iom.int